One of the coolest thing about owning the SheHive - besides ALL of it - is that I get to spend a lot of time exploring my life’s purpose. Recently I’ve been diving deep into the idea of my future self with the women in the S.H.E. group and again with the Book Club while reading Playing Big. I’ve visualized my future self, journaled about her, collaged her perfect day in an art journal and even had conversations with her.

The guided visualization to meet your Inner Mentor (your future self) provided in the Playing Big book was probably the most powerful of all the exercises for me (you can download it here). Which is surprising because I’m always a little skeptical of guided visualizations - especially when they begin with “Imagine a big beam of light shooting from the middle of your forehead up to the sky. Now climb that beam of light,” because… seriously?! Why would I climb a beam of light when I have my trusty unicorn right here next to me and I can ride it?

That’s sarcasm, by the way - my trusty unicorn left me at age 10.

But I played along with the visualization, rode the moonbeam into space and then climbed on another to travel back to earth twenty years in the future and soon I was having a conversation with my Inner Mentor - a 20-year-in-the-future me.

And, no, drugs were not involved in this in any way.

Sense-Making

Future me has a name other than my given name - Gretchen. Which she told me in our conversation. (Again, I swear I wasn’t high at the time). I laughed when she shared her name because my husband, Bryan, has a friend who calls me Gretchen because it’s German, like Ursula, and also because he’s kind of a jerk.

The thing about guided visualizations is that your brain can be kind of tricky and instead of just giving you a clear and concise message, it can tell stories in images or symbols or even through feelings. Your work is to make meaning out of all of it. Or at least that’s what I choose to do because I find it fun - like solving a puzzle.

The first thing I discovered was that Gretchen means “pearl” and pearls symbolizewisdom acquired through experience. Which all seems rather appropriate for a Mentor, right?​There were a lot of other images in this visualization too - the color brown, my least favorite color, was very prominent. I discovered it symbolizes security, honesty, elegance, grounding and stability. There was also a boat (strong and sturdy faith and curiosity) and a silver circle (perfectly imperfect, timeless). In the end I had pieced together a story about my future self of a wise, steadfast, curious and elegant woman.

I like her.

Becoming Gretchen

Now I’m not going to become Gretchen overnight. Particularly because that bitch lives by the ocean, wears a lot of cashmere and very obviously spends more time at the yoga studio than I do right now. She’s also very elegant which means that she probably doesn’t call her Inner Mentor a bitch or use the word fuck near as much as I do and she’s probably discovered a healthy coping mechanism that she enjoys as much as carbs.

But there are things I can do to evoke her every day - small things that bring me closer to the women she is… the woman I want to be twenty years in the future. This morning I meditated like she would. Tonight, when I went out to walk the dogs with the Mister, I took off my sweatshirt and put on a sweater Gretchen would wear. Small things, but two steps closer to being that elegant, wise sitting by the ocean in her cashmere.

Have you defined the woman you want to be 20 years, 10 years, 1 year from today? What’s most remarkable about her and what’s one thing you can do to become her today?

With much love and gratitude,

P.S. Another exercise in Playing Big is to give your Inner Critic a persona. Mine is Cheryl. She wears polyester ALL the time, purses her lips and types very dramatically. Gretchen wouldn't call her a bitch... but I would.